NWI Ph.D. Student Selected for local TEDx Conference

“Disruptive ideas are taking shape across the Texas Tech University System, and the
time has come to share those ideas with each other and the world…”

The TED talks are a familiar force for innovative ideas on-line, and last weekend
saw the culmination of two years’ work in the sold-out TEDx conference event held
on campus at Lanier Center at the Texas Tech University School of Law.

TED is an acronym that refers to “Technology, Education and Design”, and with such
a wide range of topics from poetry to cryopreservation techniques for equines to how
to tie your shoelaces more efficiently, 3-D printing and more, this local conference
took TED’s motto of “Ideas worth Spreading” idea to heart. With the theme of “Open
Skies, Open Minds”, it was a packed event and sold-out, according to conference organizers.

TED is a nonprofit devoted to “Ideas worth Spreading” and was started in 1984 to bring
collaboration between three very different worlds: technology, entertainment, and
design. Currently, on the TED website, more than 1500 talks are available to all with
an internet connection, and, in line with TED’s mission, all of them can be freely
shared and reposted.

Dr. Ron Banister, a physician from TTUHSC, kicked off the event when he said “We all
have a passion for sharing new ideas… This is a day of innovation and inspiration
for both speakers and participants.” TTU President Dr. M. Duane Nellis’ introduction
supported this idea, saying “We need to remain on the competitive edge as the world
innovates around us…” And this enthusiasm for the new and different was evident in
the audience who were a diverse group of both professionals and students, some of
whom were still in high school.

NWI doctoral student Joseph Dannemiller was invited as one of the conference speakers
to talk about wind hazard mitigation research, and to address the latest findings,
especially that of the ongoing myth of the efficacy of above-ground storm shelters.
(They’re as safe as below-ground shelters, according to NWI research.)

Dannemiller reports that since 1999 when the Wind Science and Engineering Research
(now NWI) started testing storm shelters, more than 30,000 shelters have been installed
nationwide. The tornado disaster of last May in Moore, OK, bought the importance of
storm shelter education to the fore, and in his capacity as NWI student researcher,
Dannemiller visited the small town just after that, a location that has been hit by
tornadoes an incredible four times in the last four years. His research revealed that
every single shelter and its occupants survived.

And so it’s an important lesson to learn: that above-ground shelters are just as safe
as below-ground shelters. Oklahoma residents that were in the tornado area were being
told by local TV stations that if they didn’t have a below-ground shelter to access,
then their next step to survival was “to get out of town.” A large segment of the
population followed that advice, which led to lengthy traffic snarls and a higher
risk of being hit by severe winds whilst out in the open in their vehicles. Dannemiller’s
message was that above-ground shelters are safe places to be during a severe wind
event. – as safe as below-ground shelters and definitely much safer than being on
the open road as a tornado is approaching.

Dannemiller’s talk was informative and cautionary, stating that “we need to have the
same diligence [for storm safety] as we do for fire protection. My kids know all about
“stop, drop and roll”, but they’re not half as familiar with what to do with a severe
weather event. We need to change that.”